Jan 18, 2016, 10:57 am
Last edit by: MaxVO
This thread is a continuation of: Airline fee $200/$100 reimbursement reports: DL only [2011 - 2015]
Credit posting delays range from several business days (typical) to several weeks (seen in Oct 2015). The T&Cs state that it could take up to four weeks, so wait at least that long before worrying, and certainly don't contact Amex prematurely
Caution: effective from 22 June 2019, gift card purchases from Delta do not get reimbursed.
Read this primer first
additional collections/split tender
THIS IS A LOOPHOLE. BE DISCREET
Anything coded as an additional collection (aka add/collect or a/c), including difference in fare when changing flights, and accepting an FCM offer, also triggers the credit and will be reimbursed; this may (insufficient data) only happen if the additional amount collected is below ~$250 (regardless of card type, e.g. there have been reports of full $100 credit for Gold card on a/c over $100 and full $200 credit for Plat on a/c over $200 but less than $250)
other non Gift Card options
(DEAD) eGift Card (eCert) details
This Section is not applicable effective 2019/06/22!
Credit posting delays range from several business days (typical) to several weeks (seen in Oct 2015). The T&Cs state that it could take up to four weeks, so wait at least that long before worrying, and certainly don't contact Amex prematurely
Caution: effective from 22 June 2019, gift card purchases from Delta do not get reimbursed.
Read this primer first
- In the Amex Membership Rewards family, both the Consumer and Business versions of the Platinum and Centurion cards qualify for a $200 airline credit. The Premier Rewards Gold (PRG) card is eligible for a $100 airline credit.
- You must
click here to<--(link dead) select Delta as your enrolled airline before you make a reimbursable purchase, else the benefit won't apply. The feature is activated immediately upon airline designation. Try logging in to your AMEX account and selecting the airline. This link may work - If you've selected DL in the past and don't wish to change airlines, there's no need to select again; current selection rolls into future years until modified.
- The T&Cs state the eligible charges, but YMMV, so don't call and ask especially about the fuzzier cases below because that will probably hasten closing of any loopholes.
- The credit is per account, not per card. If the main account has authorized users with additional cards, eligible charges may still be made on those cards, but they'll count jointly towards the same account limit.
- Credits are capped per calendar year, meaning you could tap the full amount on Dec 31st and again on Jan 1st in the extreme. Transaction date, not posting date, determines the year. Note: This is not my experience. I purchased Dec 31, 2016, posted Jan 1, 2017 and went against my 2017 credit. (TheMadBrewer)
- You will get a partial credit to bring your total annual reimbursements to the limit exactly if a qualifying charge takes you past the limit.
- After four weeks, if you've read this Wiki carefully and posted here seeking assistance but the credit still has not arrived, consider chatting with Amex online. Politely mention the "Delta extras" you thought would be reimbursed within four weeks and they'll handle it.
additional collections/split tender
THIS IS A LOOPHOLE. BE DISCREET
Anything coded as an additional collection (aka add/collect or a/c), including difference in fare when changing flights, and accepting an FCM offer, also triggers the credit and will be reimbursed; this may (insufficient data) only happen if the additional amount collected is below ~$250 (regardless of card type, e.g. there have been reports of full $100 credit for Gold card on a/c over $100 and full $200 credit for Plat on a/c over $200 but less than $250)
- Relevantly, split tender where you partially pay with a gift card, existing credit, VDB voucher etc. and partly charged to your card, are processed by DL as an add/collect and trigger the credit per above.
- Thus if you anticipate actually buying, say, a $200 DL ticket, you could buy a single $50 gift card, then buy the ticket using $50 GC and $150 on your card (the $150 will be reimbursed)
- Canceling a ticket within the 24-hour risk-free period generally results in funds being returned to where they came from (GC back to GC and CC back to CC). If you have no immediate travel plans but anticipate travel in the next year, consider buying a fully refundable ticket and then changing it later once you know your future travel dates. IF a lot of people suddenly start refunding tickets after getting the credit reimbursement this may hasten the demise of this particular loophole.
- Caution when buying multiple tickets: for example if you buy two $125 tickets in one transaction (total $250) and use one $100 GC or even two $50 GCs, they will all be applied to the same ticket and you would see one additional collection for $25 on that ticket and a separate "normal" charge for $125 for the second ticket. In this scenario only $25 will be reimbursed (instead of the $150 you might be expecting)
other non Gift Card options
- baggage and other service fees (same day change/standby, change fees, etc.)
- taxes on award flights
- in-flight purchases (EXCEPT wifi)
- SkyClub access/guest fees (but NOT gift cards purchased at a SC, which are actually activated at a 3rd party web site)
- mileage boosts (post 2499)
- The $59 for Delta Skymiles Select is reimbursed (posts 2180, 2182)
- seat assignment fees (may need to call in to have processed manually)
(DEAD) eGift Card (eCert) details
This Section is not applicable effective 2019/06/22!
- Delta eGift Cards (eCerts) have been reimbursed in practice, even though technically they do not meet the criteria listed by Amex for reimbursement. The name on the eCerts doesn't matter and need not match your card, but you must purchase using an eligible Amex card and meet the other criteria detailed in this Wiki.
- Denominations over $50 will not generate the credit. Multiple $50 eCerts will. The smallest denomination available is $50.
- To order, use this direct link to the eGift cert order page, or navigate via Delta.com>Shop>eGift Certificate.
- No need to place separate orders using multiple carts/checkouts. By adding multiple certs to one order (e.g., 4 x $50), even though they are in the same cart, the certs will post as separate transactions and still generate a credit for each.
- eCert purchases may initially authorize (show pending) as ticket purchases before posting to (finalize on) your statement. Multiple-eCert orders may authorize the combined value as a single pending ticket purchase. Don't worry; they'll post later as separate eCert charges in the qualifying amounts.
- eCerts are generated instantly, but the codes are not valid for use until 72 hours after purchase, so don't order expecting to use them in a pinch.
- A maximum of three eCerts may be redeemed per online transaction. Splitting a round-trip into two one-ways will allow you to use additional eCerts, but in some cases two one-ways may cost more than a single roundtrip so compare carefully to decide whether using more than 3 certs on a single trip is worthwhile.
- If purchasing a ticket for more than 1 person, splitting the purchase into a separate transaction for each person would also allow the use of more than 3 certs on a single trip at (usually) no additional cost. However this could have an adverse effect on ability to upgrade, upgrade priority, and other elite benefits, and on the likelihood of being reaccommodated on the same flight in the event of a flight cancellation.
- There is one recent REPORT of a telephone agent allowing more than three eCerts to be used when purchasing one ticket.
- eCerts do not expire. Their T&Cs are listed here.
Airline fee $250/$200/$100 reimbursement reports: DL only (2015-2019)
May 4, 2019, 1:00 am
#1516
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: N/A
Posts: 21
False alarm, I used iPad to visit and remember it used to go to the same desktop site thus I thought the site changed. Maybe I remembered it wrong.
Last edited by xenoverse; May 4, 2019 at 10:47 am Reason: False alarm
May 4, 2019, 5:36 am
#1518
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: N/A
Posts: 21
Delta.com -> More -> Gift Cards.
The URL is different and the site also looks different now.
https://buy.giftcards.delta.com/store/buy/recipient
The URL is different and the site also looks different now.
https://buy.giftcards.delta.com/store/buy/recipient
May 4, 2019, 5:47 am
#1519
Moderator
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
This is using a desktop browser rather than a mobile device?
If Delta has created a separate merchant to sell gift cards it is very unlikely they will be reimbursed, because they are not purchases from Delta Airlines.
If Delta has created a separate merchant to sell gift cards it is very unlikely they will be reimbursed, because they are not purchases from Delta Airlines.
May 4, 2019, 8:12 am
#1520
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2
Purchased 4, $50 gift cards via desktop site on May 2nd. Posted immediately and cleared the following day as DELTA AIR LINES ATLANTA. Now when I click on details they show as passenger tickets with a ticket number also listed. Seems like this won't get refunded...
May 4, 2019, 8:18 am
#1521
Join Date: Jul 2015
Programs: marriott platinum, AS Gold
Posts: 105
Looks like Delta made some changes to their gift car website. The transaction now shows Delta Airlines GC instead of Delta Airlines.
Before:
Delta Air Lines
Travel - Airline
Now:
Delta Air Lines GC
Merchandise & Supplies - Internet Purchase
not sure if this will still get reimbursed. I’ll report back once it does or does not after a few days.
Before:
Delta Air Lines
Travel - Airline
Now:
Delta Air Lines GC
Merchandise & Supplies - Internet Purchase
not sure if this will still get reimbursed. I’ll report back once it does or does not after a few days.
May 4, 2019, 10:40 am
#1522
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: N/A
Posts: 21
I used iPad to purchase. As far as I remember, visiting the gift card web site on iPad used to go to the same desktop website too. Maybe I remembered it wrong.
May 4, 2019, 2:30 pm
#1523
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: San Francisco
Programs: DL
Posts: 466
I had an LAX-LAX purchase get refunded very recently, FWIW. So long as the amount is $50 you should be fine.
May 5, 2019, 9:36 pm
#1525
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: IAH
Programs: DL DM, Hyatt Ist-iest, Stariott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 12,788
Delta $50 GCs are a bit of a pain but you can call in and use as many GCs as the phone rep is willing to deal with, compared with the max of 3 online! 
couple days ago I cashed out $450 worth (9x $50) calling and booking a flight for work. I lucked out with a great rep who didn't care that I had an absurd number of GCs. Delta also doesn't have a phone booking fee, so just figure out what you want online and call and feed them the flight numbers.
couple days ago I cashed out $450 worth (9x $50) calling and booking a flight for work. I lucked out with a great rep who didn't care that I had an absurd number of GCs. Delta also doesn't have a phone booking fee, so just figure out what you want online and call and feed them the flight numbers.
May 6, 2019, 11:01 am
#1526
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Mid Atlantic
Programs: Delta Plat, one-time United Plat, Amex Plat, Marriott Plat, Hertz Prez Circle, Bus Pass
Posts: 1,237
The LAX to LAX "ticket" just refunded. 
May 7, 2019, 4:05 pm
#1527
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,841
Delta doesnt let us combine the giftcards now into one big giftcard?
Just tried and Delta said cant combine.
Just tried and Delta said cant combine.
May 8, 2019, 7:38 am
#1528
Join Date: May 2019
Posts: 2
So just to confirm- has anyone ordered Delta Gift Cards recently (understand 4x50, desktop) and received the reimbursement by AMEX Platinum? My selected airline is currently AA--hoping AMEX will allow a change to Delta to still get the credit. If DL isn't working, will try Southwest. Thanks to all for the assistance.
May 8, 2019, 7:53 am
#1529
Moderator
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,954
May 8, 2019, 8:59 am
#1530
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: ATL
Programs: DL Scattered Smothered Covered Medallion, Some hotel & car stuff, Kroger Plus Card
Posts: 10,745
In terms of actually *using* the GCs for flights, you can use up to three of them online, and several people here report you can use more (I think someone just was able to use 9 of them) by calling in. Net result is the same - you can redeem value from multiple GCs for a single purchase.